


Forever

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Star Wars AUs [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 30 Day AU Challenge, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Heavy Angst, M/M, Wizard Ben Solo, Wizard Poe Dameron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 20:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13888959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: The evolution of Ben and Poe’s relationship, from Hogwarts up to becoming enemies.





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It’s dodging Armitage Hux and his cronies that Ben runs into the fourth year. Quite literally. Even getting his books back together, Ben takes a better look at him.  
The fourth year — there’s something about him where he just seems cool. Nothing like awkward Ben Solo. Then again, everyone’s cooler than Ben Solo, Ben thinks even as he picks up his books.

  
“You okay?” the fourth year says, and Ben can’t help but think that this is the first time someone’s asked him that.

  
“Yes,” Ben finally says even as he picks up his books, and gets to his feet.

  
“You seemed to be in pretty bad shape.” says the fourth year. “I’m Poe, by the way. Poe Dameron. You’re Ben Solo, right?”

  
Ben nods.

  
“You want me to walk you to Transfiguration?”

  
Another nod.

  
(Even long into the future, Ben — or the Death Eater Kylo Ren — never forgets how kind Poe Dameron was to him)

  
***

  
They don’t share the same classes together, but in the dormitories, they have time to meet, to have Poe help him with homework, things like that. Ben gets to know more about Poe and his family, and Poe gets to know Ben in turn. And Ben can say that it’s safe to say he made his first friend. Granted, said friend is three years older than he, but even so…  
And there’s something about Poe that’s captivating. The way he laughs. The way he smiles. Ben doesn’t quite know what it is, but he knows he likes Poe a lot.

  
***

  
Poe completes Hogwarts when Ben’s fourteen. By then, Ben’s moving up in the world in terms of spells and such, and so is Poe. Star Quidditch player, Head Boy, popular and well-liked, and yet he always finds time for Ben. It’s his last day at Hogwarts that Poe says goodbye to Ben, and Ben has to fight the urge to cry.

  
“Hey,” Poe says. “You okay?”

  
Ben shakes his head.

  
“Ben, don’t worry. We can always keep in touch…”

  
“I know, but…it won’t be the same without you.”

  
“It won’t be the same without you either, Ben. Believe me.” Poe takes his hand. “We’ll keep in touch, I promise. I’ll tell you how I’m doing, you’ll tell me how you’re doing.”

  
“I will.” Ben says.

  
They hug tightly, and Ben makes sure to savor that hug, because he knows he’ll be seeing Poe rarely from now on.

  
It’s afterwards that Ben realizes that he’s all but fallen in love with Poe Dameron. Before, he saw him as just cool — now, he’s fallen for him. And even that realization startles him. What will Poe even say, if he knew that Ben has fallen for him, in every way? Poe probably doesn’t see him as anything else but just a sad kid. Someone to be pitied, maybe, but certainly not loved, not like Ben loves him.

  
No matter what happens, Ben knows he’ll never give up on Poe. Not once, not ever.

  
***

  
Ben works to get through Hogwarts, he truly does. He works, and he thinks of Poe and how proud he would be if he saw Ben. He works at his OWLs and does decently — he’s a flawed fighter, but he does well in even Defense Against the Dark Arts, where he struggles a little. He writes Poe where he can, has fireplace chats, and even seeing him again is enough to lift Ben’s spirits.

  
Poe’s doing well. Auror training is tiring him out, but he never seems to lose that smile at the corner of his lips, he never seems to lose that good cheer. Even talking about the war against Snoke, he seems to have a lot of optimism and hope.

  
“As long as there’s light, we’ve got a chance,” he says, and Ben believes him. It’s hard not to believe Poe when he speaks with such conviction. It’s one of many reasons Ben loves him.

  
***

  
When Ben finally comes face to face with Lord Snoke, he has to admit that an old, scarred man was not what he was expecting. He’s eighteen at the time, and Poe’s twenty-one, beautiful and accomplished as an Auror, and Snoke comes to him because he has an offer for him.

  
Ben shouldn’t be being drawn in by all of what Snoke’s saying, but he has to admit that Snoke’s vision for the Wizarding World captivates him. No more corruption. No more unfairness. The more Ben sees of the Wizarding World, the more he wonders if it’s as wonderful as he thought when he was only eleven.

  
Funny how age can make a difference in how you perceive things.

  
When Ben agrees to help him, it’s because of what starts out as good intentions. Snoke was a professor at Hogwarts once — now, perhaps, he’s just continuing to show others the way.

  
***

  
Ben doesn’t know, in hindsight, what made him think (in the slightest) that Poe would accept his offer. But it’s one rainy night that he arrives on Poe’s doorstep, and Poe, smiling warmly (and Merlin, he looks even more beautiful when he does that), welcomes him in.

  
It’s catching up on things that Ben tells him about Snoke, and the light visibly goes out of Poe’s eyes, his smile fades, replaced by heartbreak. “You joined…him?”

  
“He’s not a bad man, Poe — ’’

  
“He’s good at not appearing bad,” Poe says.

  
“He wants to help the Wizarding World.”

  
“He wants to destroy it.”

  
“He’s not like that at all — ’’

  
“Ben, what makes you think I would join him?”

  
“I love you.”

  
There it is, out in the open. There’s the truth that Ben Solo can no longer hide.

  
Poe’s eyes widen. “Ben…”

  
“I love you. I never stopped. I could give you so much, if you came with me…”

  
Poe looks like he’s struggling. After a while he says, “Snoke’s army wants to target people like me. Muggleborns. That’s what he wants to do. Anyone who doesn’t fit his definition of purity, he’ll try and get rid of. I can’t get on board with that. I love you, Ben,” and even those words hurt. “With all my heart. But I can’t go with you.”

  
And even as Ben leaves, he knows that no matter what happens, he will never stop loving Poe either. The young student who he didn’t realize he loved until he was fourteen, but probably loved even before that. He probably shouldn’t. But he loves Poe Dameron.

  
And he no doubt always will.


End file.
